Lock and latch case.



Patented 001. ID, I899.

C. R HEGKFORD.

LOCK AND LATCH CASE.

{Applicstidn filed m 18, 1599.

(Nb Model.)

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UNIT D ST T PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE R. I-IECKFORD, OF OAKEN, ENGLAND.

LOCK AND ,LATCH cAsl-zl SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 634,688, dated October 10, 1899.

Application filed May 18. 1899.

Britain, residing at Oaken, near Wolverhampton, in the county of Stafford, England,

have invented certain new and useful Im-" provementsin Lock and Latch Cases, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to meansfor securing the back or cap plate to the case of a lock or latch. Ordinarily this has been efiected means of securing the back plate is relatively costly and has other obvious disadvantages; and the object of the present invention is to provide a simple, efficient, and inexpensive means for securing said back plate of the case without the aid of screws, whereby the,

objections to the means heretofore employed are obviated. I The invention lies in the utilization of the spring of the sheet metal forming the upright walls of the lock-case for elfectin g the engagement of reciprocally-interlocking parts in or on the said walls of the case and on the back plate for securing said plate in place.

The invention is illustrated in the aceompanyin'g drawings, in which Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a sheet-metal lock or latch case with the cap or back plate fixedthereto according to this invention; Fig. 2 is a detached view of the cap-plate. Fig. 3 is a section of the case, taken on line so? in Fig. l, the back plate being omitted. Fig. 4 is a section of the case, takenon line 1: in Fig. 1, and also with the back plate omitted. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken on line x in Fig. 1, but showing the back plate in position for being pressed down into place. Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken through a lock or latch case on line' to in Fig. '7, illustrating a modified form of the invention; and Fig.7 is a longitudinal section of 10531116 at line 00 in Fig. 6. 1

Referring primarily to Figs. 1 to 5, A is the back plate; 0, the case; B, the inner end wall thereof, and D'the outer or fro'nt end wall thereof. These are'formed of sheet metal.

Serial No. 717,325. (No model.)

gage apertures or mortises c' in the end wall 'B of the case C, and on the other end of said plate A is formed a similar short projection or tenon 01, adapted to engage an aperture or By preference there willbe two tenons c and one tenon d; but the actual number used is not important to the invention.

Where the case 0 is made from sheet metal, it will be cut or punched to the proper shape, with the proper apertures for the knob-spindle and bolts,-as indicated at e, e, and c and the mortises c and cl will be punched out, the side and end walls will be bent up, and these'will usuallybe simply brought together at the corners of the case without being secured together.

In placing the back plate A the tenons 0 will be engaged with the m'ortises c, as seen in Fig. 5, when the tenon d on the inclined backplate will rest against the end wall D of the case 0. Pressure is now applied on the back plate, the end wall D yields outward end wall D to resume, by its resiliency, its proper upright position, and the engagement of the tenons with their mortises holds the back plate firmly-in place. This plate can be removed by springing outwardly the end wall or walls of the case, so as to free the tenon or tenons at one end of the plate.

Should the end wall D be secured at its lat; eral edges to the side walls of the case C, it

plate to be placed and secured.

Referring now-to Figs. 6 and 7, this construction shows inclined projections f and f on the inner faces of the respective end walls B and D in lieu of mortises, and these projections may be formed by pressing out the sheet metal of the parts. The back plate A has no tenons on its ends; but at its lateral margins it-is formed, as seen at g, to take over and rest on the side walls of the case C and also to take between them; The back plate is pressed down, as in the first instance, and wipes over the inclined projection f and snaps in under it. The lateral rabbeted edges movement and to uphold the back plate. The

elastically, and the tenon d is made to engage V or snap into the mortise (1, which permits the will still yield sufficiently to allow the baclr g on the back plate serve to prevent lateral mortise d in the end wall D of the case 0.

number of projections f and f on the end walls is not very important. One of each would serve.

The walls B and D have been referredto herein as end Walls merely in a descriptive 1. A lock or latch casehaving end walls,

one of which is capable of being sprung outward elastically, and having a back plate held in place byengagement at its ends under shoulders primarily formed on the said end walls, substantially as set forth.

2. A look or latch case having end walls,

one of which is capable of being sprung outward elastically, and having lnortises primarily formed in said end walls, said case having a back plate provided at its ends with tenons which engage said mortises, substantially as set forth.

3. A lock or latch case of sheet metal having opposite walls, 13 and D, one at least of which is capable of being sprung outward elastically, and said walls having in them primarily-formed mortises as described, and said case having its back plate A held in place by short tenons on its opposite edges engaging the inortises in the said walls, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof 1 have hereunto signed my name, this 6th day of May, 1899, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CLARENCE R. HECKFORD.

Vitnesses:

STEPHEN WVATKINs, ROBERT M. LISTER. 

